What is a 'RT-PCR (NAAT) test', and is this the standard RT-PCR test you get in Bangkok, when you do the test at a hospital or clinic?

More will follow...ask Dr. Google.

9 hours ago, ProbPossConf said:

More will follow...ask Dr. Google.

Asking because I only see RT-PCR tests offered. Just want to make sure it's the same as the one with the 'NAAT'...

In case you haven't got the 1 second it takes to Google this, NAAT stands for nucleic acid amplification test.

 

An RT-PCR is one kind of NAAT, the most common kind for Covid -19 virus detection.  It detects the nucleic acid of COVID-19- which is RNA- after conversion to the nucleic acid DNA, which is done by the RT (reverse transcriptase) step. It relies on usually 40 repeated thermal cycles -commonly 94°C for followed by 68°C.  

 

But new technology now means there are several other kinds of nucleic acid amplification tests to detect the nucleic acid of Covid-19. They are also NAATs, but they are not identical to RT-PCR, being based on different methods of amplifying the nucleic acid . For example there are amplifications that can be done at a single temperature (isothermal).

 

However if it is called an RT-PCR (NAAT) it should be the same as a test called simply RT-PCR.

46 minutes ago, partington said:

In case you haven't got the 1 second it takes to Google this, NAAT stands for nucleic acid amplification test.

 

An RT-PCR is one kind of NAAT, the most common kind for Covid -19 virus detection.  It detects the nucleic acid of COVID-19- which is RNA- after conversion to the nucleic acid DNA, which is done by the RT (reverse transcriptase) step. It relies on usually 40 repeated thermal cycles -commonly 94°C for followed by 68°C.  

 

But new technology now means there are several other kinds of nucleic acid amplification tests to detect the nucleic acid of Covid-19. They are also NAATs, but they are not identical to RT-PCR, being based on different methods of amplifying the nucleic acid . For example there are amplifications that can be done at a single temperature (isothermal).

 

However if it is called an RT-PCR (NAAT) it should be the same as a test called simply RT-PCR.

Thank you for the detailed post. All I wanted to know, was whether all the RT-PCR tests offered in Bangkok are the same, "RT-PCR (NAAT)" required by some countries to enter. Reading your explanation, it seems they are.